Now, this may come as a surprise to all of my friends and followers alike. To many, I'm known as the small guy who races bicycles, although just just between you and me... I'm not very good at that. However, I love riding bikes. I love being able to go 90 miles of scenic wine country in Oregon without phone service or a care in the world. I love the adrenaline rush of going over 50mph. I love racing when I'm in shape. And I particularly love the incredibly small but fast community of friends and racers in Eugene that I have built over the past 4 years. I love all of these things about bikes... which begs the question; why on earth am I switching to train for a marathon?
Like I said before, I'm not a very good cyclist. I'm a middle of the road category 3 racer (5 being slowest, 1 being fastest), so I'm mediocre. The key to being fast is to be committed to training, and cycling takes a lot of time to be good. In my 3rd year of racing, I made the biggest jump in speed by riding over 8500 miles... this year I'm on track to ride about 3500 if I'm lucky. Full time work past sunset eliminates the possibility of getting good miles outside during weekdays in the winter/spring, and I certainly can't leave during the middle of the day to go for 40 miles. Time is easily the biggest reason I am temporarily transitioning away from riding. Cycling takes 20 minutes to get ready to go outside in Oregon weather, and a minimum of 2 hours outdoors to feel like the time you spent getting ready to actually ride was worth it. Running however takes no more than 5 minutes (less than 1 minute if it's sunny) and a great run can be done in 35 minutes. Also, for some reason, my lab condones running like it's the end all be all exercise. I can leave anytime during the day to go on a run, come back and stretch, take a shower, then get back to work. Almost all of us do it, even though it's a major time killer. The crew would look at it differently if I left to kit up for a ride, even though if I stopped running 3 days a week and switched my training to riding, the amount of time I spent exercising would be the same.
As I make this temporary transition to a different sport, I can't help but notice all of the negative consequences of doing so. First and foremost: running hurts like a motherfucker. Aerobically, I have the same fitness as the cycling me, but my knees and muscles absolutely hate running. It took me 4 months to build up my base to run 6 miles. I also can't run more than 3 days a week without my calves and knees withering away. Hopefully as I train more this changes, but I don't think it will anytime soon. Also, remember how I said I was 95% confident I would be running the marathon? The 5% doubt comes from potential injury. Runners are exposed to all types of risks that cyclists aren't. Running can cause stress fractures, shin splints, a wide array of tendon/ligament damage... you name it. And like I said, my knees are already bitches. I'm fairly certain that my knees have weak/damaged menisci, which causes an insatiably sharp pain in them from time to time. The more I run, the more frequent I feel it. Right now, it's maybe once a day. The pain is transient, but man does it suck, and hopefully it doesn't develop in to anything else.
Running and impact both suck, but they're not the worst thing about the sport. The absolute worst part about running is the lack of places I can go. I spent 2 hours running 15 miles on Sunday, and I was able to see the glorious bike paths of Eugene I've ridden on for the past 5 years. There is no scenic wine country running, and no escaping the town unless I drive out of it. I feel like I'm confined to Eugene when I run, whereas when I ride the entire state of Oregon is my oyster.
Another little down side of this training is that Dan Mahoney is going to be faster than me on a bicycle this year. In fact, he's already faster than me now. Sure, I can win up punchy hill climbs that last one minute, but overall Dan's going to be the better rider. Of course, I don't wish Dan to be slower than he is... that would be a terrible and selfish thing of me to wish. I wish Dan is the fastest he possibly can be in life... but I also wish that I am ever just so slightly faster than him always... is that too much to ask? It's not really a rivalry thing, clearly either of us would be ecstatic if we won a CAT 3 race, but we are both competitive in nature, and there's something satisfying about beating up each other on the bike.
Overall, I feel like there are more negatives to running than positives, and I really don't enjoy it as much as cycling. I think after this marathon I'll commit the rest of year to riding, but as of right now, I am 95% sure this will happen.
